“It hits home a little bit different like those signs on the road ‘cause it makes it a little more — ‘hey, this is real,’” Move Silfab member Patrick Lloyd said.
There are 27 signs scattered throughout Fort Mill and surrounding areas. A chance for light-hearted interaction, yet a serious message.
“I’m looking at this radius — and I actually live within the first ring — and it hits close to home,” Lloyd said “You’re looking at this like ‘okay, this is a real risk,’” Lloyd said.
According to Move Silfab, each of the signs are divided into colored zones, each one representing a different level of potential impact from chemicals used at Silfab Solar.
So, when you see, or are in, a red, yellow or orange zone, that means you’re in a 1-3 mile radius of an impacted area.
“Red is obviously the most dangerous,” Lloyd said. “And then the interactive part is take a picture of that sign and then post it on social media, so that now you’re kind of sharing that information with your network.”
Those zones are based on a University of South Carolina Health Risk Assessment.
“There’s a lot of dangerous chemicals, I know for sure, and this has to do with the plume, the air plume that would basically spread from Silfab if they had an accidental release,” Lloyd said.
Tuesday, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson directed a series of concerning questions to York County Chairwoman Christi Cox, mainly around zoning for the plant. What he asked were similar to concerns many people who live in the area have.
“We have FOIA-asked for the zoning of compliance letter,” Move Silfab member Sott Jensen said. “They don’t have one or they are hiding it, we’re asking show us the zoning compliance, if it’s up to par, show it’s legal then show the citizens the zoning compliance, if they are not void the permits, void the C-O.”
In the meantime, Silfab has said it has executed a Compliance Agreement, which provides a series of conditions that Silfab has agreed to follow with the SC Department on Environmental Services, adding it “remains committed to the safety of our employees and the community.”
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